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Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Synthesis of a Water-soluble Metal–Organic Complex Array
Published on: October 8, 2016
Synthesis of Metal Complexes with an Open-Cage Fullerene as the Ligand
Zishuo Zhou1, Nana Xin1, Liangbing Gan1,2
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Abstract:
An open-cage C60 derivative 9 with anilino, hemiketal, and lactone moieties on the edge of the opening was prepared through a fullerene-mixed peroxide procedure. Key steps include decarbonylation, intramolecular Friedel-Crafts reaction and oxetane ring opening rearrangement. The open-cage compound 9 readily reacts with various metal salts. A nickel complex was obtained by treating 9 with NiCl2 at r.t. followed by purification on a silica gel column. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the nickel ion is coordinated to two ligands with an octahedral geometry.
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